The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has admitted acorn investment management limited to the regulatory sandbox for one year.
CMA chief executive Wyckliffe Shamiah says, the admission follows its development investment platform christened ‘vuka’ which aggregates retail investors into asset backed financial products such as real estate through a regulated and transparent structure.
“The Authority is cognizant of Acorn’s commitment to support capital markets development and growth. The innovation further supports Kenya’s Big 4 agenda on affordable housing. We are hopeful of a successful testing and eventual roll out of the innovation to the mass market,” said Shamiah.
The innovation targets qualified retail investors such as investment clubs , SACCOs and other medium-to-long term retail investors.
Vuka is a crossover from illiquid and opaque forms of real estate plagued by land disputes and pyramid schemes to predictable and stable returns generated by assets with high demand.
Acorn investment management limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of acorn holdings limited is currently the reit manager for acorn student accommodation development reit and the acorn student accommodation income reit on the unquoted securities platform of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
